NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (March 2023): Criterion have transferred Steve McQueen's Small Axe to Blu-ray. It is cited as being "New high-definition masters of all five films, approved by director Steve McQueen". Despite the five films being shared on two Blu-rays (the third disc has extras) with modest bitrates - the image quality is strong. There are 5 different aspect ratio utilized - 1.60:1 (Education), 1.78:1 (Lover's Rock), 1.85:1 (Red, White and Blue), 2.00:1 (Alex Wheatle) and 2.35:1 (Mangrove).  Education was shot in 16mm - Arriflex 416 (designed for 16mm filmmaking in the Super 16 format) - and that is the only major difference in visual quality - it is thicker with more prominent grain textures. The 1080P image, shot with exquisite flourishes by cinematographer Shabier Kirchner, looks as exceptional as you might expect modern films rendered to the Blu-ray format could look; pristine, bright, true colors and strong contrast.

NOTE: We have added 150 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. Small Axe has some aggressive sequences. The score for Mangrove and Lovers Rock is credited to Mica Levi (Under the Skin) plus the first film has some Bob Marley and The Wailers, Jim Reeves, Toots & The Maytals, Llewella Gideon etc. Lover's Rock has some songs by Sunday Girl, Shaniqua Okwok, Carl Douglas's Kung Fu Fighting, more Bob Marley, The Delfonics, The Revolutionaries, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and others. Red, White and Blue offered more Jim Reeves, Gloria Jones, Al Green, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye, Melle Mel etc. Alex Wheatle had sampling by The Abyssinians, Johnny Clarke, The Flames, more Bob Marley & The Wailers, Sugar Minott and others while the last film, Education had London's Burning performed by school children, Lazy Sunday by Small Faces and Stewart Wright performing The House of the Rising Sun. It sounded quite buoyant in the lossless. Criterion offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray add extras. There is a new 1/2 hour conversation between Small Axe director Steve McQueen and University College London Professor of the Humanities Paul Gilroy, who served as one of the anthology's consultants. It was recorded in London in 2023 and produced by Criterion. There are about 20-minutes worth of Behind-the-scenes featurettes for each film including interviews with McQueen, executive producer Tracey Scoffield, writing consultant Alex Wheatle, and members of the Small Axe cast; ex. actors John Boyega, Steve Toussaint, Malachi Kirby, Shaun Parkes, and Letitia Wright. There are also trailers. The third Blu-ray offers the three hour Uprising (2021), a three-part documentary co-directed by McQueen and James Rogan about the tragic 1981 New Cross house fire. Uprising tells the extraordinary story of three intertwined events from 1981: the New Cross Fire, which killed 13 young black people; the Black People's Day of Action; and the Brixton riots. The series focuses on the tragedy and aftermath of events in 1981 which it argues would go on to define race relations in the United Kingdom for a generation. In May 2022, Uprising won a television BAFTA for Factual Series. It's a fabulous inclusion in this set. The package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by film programmer and critic Ashley Clark.

Steve McQueen's Small Axe title references a proverb – "Small axe fall big tree" or "If you are the big tree, we are the small axe". It was popularized by Bob Marley in his 1973 song "Small Axe". This Criterion Blu-ray package of this anthology series is outstanding. These masterfully realized five films share common themes but are all distinctly different efforts that do not intersect. This is some of the most brilliant cinema I have seen in a long time. McQueen is best know for 12 Years a Slave (2013), Hunger (2008), and Shame (2011) was born in London to a Grenadian mother and a Trinidadian father. He draws from his experiences in schooling - marginalized being dyslexic and also wearing an eye patch because of a lazy eye. Notable are Mangrove and Lovers Rock (the latter was the top-ranked film in Sight & Sound's best films of 2020) but I also very much enjoyed Red, White and Blue, Alex Wheatle and Education. The inclusion of the three-hour documentary Uprising (2021) adds even more value to this remarkable set. I expect this to be voted on in our year-end poll. Our highest recommendation! 

Gary Tooze